Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x09 - "Into the Forest I Go"

[Bgt]

Meh... gave it a 5.
I think this episode sums up Discovery perfectly:
Full with plot holes that lead to some very impressive scenes.

So a tiny little Michael can fight a Klingon leader in hand to hand combat, after she had easily accessed A Kilngon ship bridge (during a battle alert nevertheless).
An officer with PTSD is still free to run around the brig (where there are no other guards)
An obsessive captain asks an officer to potentially sacrifice himself following a rather crazy plan
They keep a Klingon POW in precious Discovery instead of sending her in a star base to be interrogated etc etc.

But worst of all .. oh those Michael's slow motions of triumph, omg so cliche I was laughing out loud.

p.s.1
Why the DSC tilts again??
p.s.2
How many times "one last jump" can be said till we realize something will go wrong?
p.s.3
They should have sent L'Rell to the Star Base, along with Cornwell... and give those two their own spin off. Doh!

 

[Refuge]

Meh... gave it a 5.
I think this episode sums up Discovery perfectly:
Full with plot holes that lead to some very impressive scenes.

So a tiny little Michael can fight a Klingon leader in hand to hand combat, after she had easily accessed A Kilngon ship bridge (during a battle alert nevertheless).
An officer with PTSD is still free to run around the brig (where there are no other guards)
An obsessive captain asks an officer to potentially sacrifice himself following a rather crazy plan
They keep a Klingon POW in precious Discovery instead of sending her in a star base to be interrogated etc etc.

But worst of all .. oh those Michael's slow motions of triumph, omg so cliche I was laughing out loud.

p.s.1
Why the DSC tilts again??
p.s.2
How many times "one last jump" can be said till we realize something will go wrong?
p.s.3
They should have sent L'Rell to the Star Base, along with Cornwell... and give those two their own spin off. Doh!

Yes, why keep L'Rell on board?

 

[jaime]

Well, we got more than our share of Denobulan physiology, too. Even if suitably Austin Powers masked in places.

And not running tests on Stamets was a plot point. Lorca didn't want to find out. Except when it suited his plans that there would be something wrong, and he then got more than he wanted.

Timo Saloniemi

I skipped most of ENT. I keep trying...but...well.

I think there were tests, hence the panels being fit, but the effect was cumulative, and Stamets basically dodged his appointments after he noticed the weird stuff.

Lorca said ‘let’s go home’ which Gives credence to him being from somewhere else (and his scars are a triangle and a line no? 31.) but...it’s possible his little override was him wanting to see another universe, as he knows neither he nor Stamets ever will once they get back.
Or he’s been mapping his way home, and the reason there’s no spore drive in Prime Trek is because it’s in one of those holes, and DSC has only just got there. We will o course know more once the fan analysis of the debris field is in.
Which could of course mean Lorca is Sam Beckett, possibly Stamets too

 

[McDuff]

We finally got some ship porn for those who have been harping on about this. I couldn't give a shit, but I guess some people do. Yay for you. Me? I got tons of character development and emotional moments that made this a satisfying episode for me.

Joyless? What does that even mean? There was so much heart and love in this episode.

Couldn't give a shit? If you're only watching this show for character development and emotional moments, that's stupid, you should watch straight drama. They are much better for this. This is mostly a sci-fi action-adventure series. There was indeed great character moments in this episode (Michael with Tyler) but let's not get overboard. It was mostly an action-adventure episode. The Discovery characters are indeed great. They grow on me a lot.

 

[BlueStuff]

There were no episodes that good in the first 9 episodes of any of the other series (with the exception of maybe DS9's pilot).

 

[jaime]

Yes, why keep L'Rell on board?

Because she lures Voq or Tyler, or both depending how that pans out. Because Tyler/Voq Lurves/hates L’Rell. Because it may all end in Michael/Ash/L’Rell wedding, and Tyler actually ‘turned’ L’Rell, explaining her desire to defect, which of course is why Admiral Cornwall owes her one, should the Disco ever make it back to starbase. Because mushrooms are the great barrier. Because Sarek once adopted a young pale goth Klingon girl, and named her after an earth plant, before she made an earth plant.

 

[Seven of Five]

Good mid-season finale, with enough intrigue thrown in at the end to keep us guessing for the next few weeks.

With the way the different storylines had played out so far this season, I was really feeling for the various crewmembers throughout this episode.

 

[Tesophius]

2/10

I'm done with this show. I thought it was only going to get better after the magic episode, but having one decent episode a season is not worth spending so much time watching it. I guess I'll be waiting another ten years for a new StarTrek. STD is so bad that when the brand association isn't enough to make it entertaining to watch.

The visuals are still good, but after nine episodes I need more. It's basically a parody on bad cop shows set in a StarTrek universe. A real shame. Awful writers.

 

[eschaton]

Yes, why keep L'Rell on board?

Because plot, sadly.

They either have plans for how L'Rell will help them while stranded in alternate universes, or they need her there to further Ash...umm...coming out of his shell. Probably both.

In contrast, they had nothing more to do with Admiral Cornwell, so they put her on a bus...almost literally.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

This episode truly hit a home run on many levels.

1.) Probably the best acting out of the show so far, SMG once again gives a confident performance as the dispassionate yet insistent Burnham, Isaacs truly walks that line between Hero and the sinister anti-hero, Shazad delivers probably the best performance in my not so humble opinion. I don't think panic and shock are easy to pull off, I found him very believable. Rapp and Stamets, they scaled back the "man losing his mind" thing a bit, without explanation I thought that's kinda weird but that aside it was a solid performance.

2.) Romance was done great, so often romance in trek shows is fairly two dimensional. The care and concern showcased between Burnham and Ash, as well as Stamets and the Doctor Culber is something that shows don't do often enough and when they do, it's not usually very good IMO. And unlike efforts like Wynonna Earp or JJ Trek, the moments shared between Stamets and Culber seemed genuine and not like "oh look it's the gays, see we have gay people".

3.) Probably some of the best uses of sex and sexual imagery I've seen in a tv show, sci fi especially, this is a small point really, but depicting what's essentially being recalled as a rape of sorts is something that adds "a little" to showcasing Tyler's pain, but the risk is big. Showing something like this has the potential to seriously detract from what's going on, but they nailed it ( pun intended ).

4.) Fight between Kol and Burnham, I thought this coulda been cooler. I think they really missed an opportunity to give us more on Burnham by wrestling with her own demons. The dispassionately raised, passionate woman who lost it so bad on her last outing with this ship she attempted a mutiny and botched a mission to take a HVT, finds herself facing the man who uses her former captains badge as a tooth pick, Just seems we coulda had a moment where she almost botches this one but has an internal come to jesus moment, give us some idea of her true inner thinking to overcome. That's a little bit cheesy, sure, but I think it woulda worked well.

5.) I have a feeling this mirror universe is gonna be cool, I don't think Stamets dies, I'm thinking something akin to becoming a god like being, think Gary Mitchel / Elizabeth Dehner, maybe not such a strong duplicate of that scenario, and with not such sinister motivations in Stamets, but something along the lines of Stamets being either no longer truly human, or superior.

6.) All in all, super exciting, but this whole break thing is bullshit. The episodes can still stand to be longer, more content can fit in. Not a ton, I aint talking hour and a half episodes but there are so many characters, and extra 15 minutes an episode could only help. CBS is just not utilizing this format very well. Unlike Netflix and HBO, CBS is just playing this too safe, they aren't balancing vision with risk well, IMO.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Yes, why keep L'Rell on board?

I thought this was somewhat obvious but maybe I need to rewatch.

They didn't have a chance to dump their prisoner at a starbase yet.

Did I seriously miss continuity?

 

[eschaton]

I really, really don't like the idea that Lorca is "Mirror Lorca" - both because he doesn't seem to be irredeemably evil, and because Trek said canonically that people from the Mirror Universe (at least during this time period) were such barbarians that they would never be able to pretend to fit in. But here's some alternate ideas.

1. He's indeed from an alternate universe, but not an evil one, just a slightly more crapsack one. He somehow materialized when the real Lorca's ship was destroyed with Lorca "prime" still onboard, and took over his identity, which explains why he doesn't have a good explanation of how he survived when his whole crew went down.

2. Alternately, he is prime Lorca, and he's being driven by the idea he can find an alternate universe which didn't result in the destruction of his first ship and the loss of the crew.

 

[eschaton]

I thought this was somewhat obvious but maybe I need to rewatch.

They didn't have a chance to dump their prisoner at a starbase yet.

Did I seriously miss continuity?

That would make sense, except they already removed Cornwell from the Discovery and put her on a shuttle to...somewhere. They could have done it for L'Rell too.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

I really, really don't like the idea that Lorca is "Mirror Lorca" - both because doesn't seem to be irredeemably evil, and because Trek said canonically that people from the Mirror Universe (at least during this time period) were such barbarians that they would never be able to pretend to fit in. But here's some alternate ideas.

1. He's indeed from an alternate universe, but not an evil one, just a slightly more crapsack one. He somehow materialized when the real Lorca's ship was destroyed with Lorca "prime" still onboard, and took over his identity, which explains why he doesn't have a good explanation of how he survived when his whole crew went down.

2. Alternately, he is prime Lorca, and he's being driven by the idea he can find an alternate universe which didn't result in the destruction of his first crew.

I think there is something desperate about simply holding onto this ship, crew and technology. He seems only to truly freak out when this is at risk.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I don't think it's necessarily un-Starfleet to celebrate success.

Data cheered and pumped his fist when the BoP was destroyed in Generations, and the Starfleet Officer behind him pumped his fist as well.

Red Squad super-cheered when they thought they blew up the Dominion ship in "Valiant." Maybe not the best example since those cadets were stupid.

Except in Starfleet (TNG, at least), any time you have to resort to fighting, you have automatically failed in your mission's peaceful intent.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

That would make sense, except they already removed Cornwell from the Discovery and put her on a shuttle to...somewhere. They could have done it for L'Rell too.

Emergency medical shuttle was the verbiage used no?

I mean it's a bit of a cheesy and "convenient" way to separate the two, albeit a smidge cheesy but I gotta say, I wouldn't want to transport a prisoner like that, on a shuttle.

 

[bookworm8571]

A lot of the Star Trek episodes and movies were not all that great, when it comes right down to it. They were less noticeable when I was about ten. There are lots of plot holes and science and tactical decisions that make little sense. Discovery isn’t all that different. I don’t think Burnham’s “crime” merited a life sentence or that a captain would be allowed to take said prisoner onto his ship. The death of the first security officer was stupid. Why did they just let Harry Mudd go? Etc., etc.

But it’s still entertaining. I watch for the characters. Lorca is currently my favorite. I don’t give a rip about starship design or Klingon anatomy (what’s with all the posts about L’Rell’s chest?) I suppose that might have something to do with differences in how men and women watch a show. I get the impression this board skews heavily male. I’d rather see deep relationship development and this episode has that too.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

I dunno these days mutiny is punishable by death still,

I can imagine in the future a mutiny having a life sentence isn't all that crazy. I mean she knocked out her captain and ordered her crew to fire, unprovoked, on an alien ship.

 

[eschaton]

Oh, and while I still like the episode, FWIW I'm still not buying the Burnham/Tyler relationship. They had a great scene together, but it felt like two good friends talking. Given their relationship is brand new and not comfortable yet, the dynamic was all wrong.

Stamets was picture perfect however.

 

[Vger23]

But she shouldn't have been able to block an overhead strike without breaking her arms given how much stronger then a Human Klingon's are supposed to be.

Yet nearly every time in any series or movie that a hero fights a Klingon, it's essentially an even match.